


One Thing After Another

by alinova



Category: Thir13en Ghosts (2001)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 11:28:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6702928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alinova/pseuds/alinova
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My own re-imagining on one of my favourite films - Thir13en Ghosts.<br/>I do not own Thir13en Ghosts or any rights to it, but I do own my own OC. Chapters will be short at first but will pick up length later on as I started this a while ago and only just got back into it. Also... Please excuse the poor and sometimes unbelievable cheesy and cliche writing style. I was at least 15 when I started this. Three years later and my writing should be better, so hopefully it will suddenly improve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Sudden Change

Diana Bennett loved her job. Honestly, there was nothing she enjoyed more than taking care of these kids, more than anything she loved the responsibility. She had always gotten on well with kids but there was no child she got on better with than Bobby Kriticos. The kid was obsessed with death and that combined with the certain 'gifts' that Diana had, it was perfect. Diana was a psychic, which mean't she could sense ghosts, and that was what your average psychic could do, Diana however was one of those ridiculously rare exceptions. She was on another level of psychic power and therefore was literally one in a million, someone of her particular talents didn't come around for centuries at a time. With her next level of psychic power Diana could not only sense the ghosts, she could see them and talk to them, usually people would need aid so that they could see into the supernatural realm. The fact that she could talk to the ghosts meant that she could help them to move on, which also served well as a protection against them, ghosts never attacked her, something she was very grateful for.

She currently stood at the stove in the kitchen, Bobby sat at the table waiting for his breakfast.

"Diana?" a familiar voice sounded from the table behind her, she turned to face Bobby,

"Mhm?" she replied before turning back to the eggs she was frying, "Did you know they found a man outside of a fast food restaurant who was _decolopolated?!"_   he asked excitedly,

"No Bobby, it's decapitated honey."

"Ohhhhh." Bobby often got words wrong or mixed up, it was part of her job to help him with that. Kathy walked into the kitchen, she was eighteen years old and one of those girls who never needed an ounce of makeup and always looked stunning anyway, she smiled at Diana and took her place at the table,

"Mmmm, Di that smells good."

"Thanks Kathy, sleep well?"

"I did actually."

"Gooooood." Diana replied cheerfully. Arthur Kriticos was the last one to enter the kitchen as usual,

"Morning everyone." the other residents of the kitchen answered pleasantly, pretending not to see the red puffy eyes that indicated he had been mourning his late wife Jean. When Diana had served up the breakfast Arthur caught her attention and started going through the day's schedule concerning the two kids. They were just going over what was going to be happening around lunch time when there was a knock at the door. Arthur frowned and checked his watch, then he glanced up at her, "Oh sorry, that must be the lawyer."

"The lawyer?!" exclaimed Kathy, "I thought we'd got all our credit cleaned up?" the poor girl was panicking again, they had just gotten out of a rough spot concerning their debt and just last month were on the verge of being evicted from the apartment they currently resided in. Arthur sighed,

"No Kathy, don't worry it's nothing to do with that." Kathy heaved a sigh of relief and leaned into Diana's side, she put her arm around Kathy and hugged the girl close, knowing how worried Kathy gets with all of this.

Half an hour later Arthur shut the door slowly after the lawyer, Ben Moss. Everyone was in shock over the news they had just received. Arthur's Uncle had died recently and left the family a video message as a will, the Kriticos family had inherited a mansion from Cyrus Kriticos, the late uncle. Not only that but there was a good chance that they could be moving in the same day, Ben had said that he was going down to the mansion after work and they were free to join them.


	2. That Power Guy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet Dennis, the obnoxious lawyer is increasingly obnoxious and we go inside the house...

Later that day they packed up the car and drove to the lawyer's office, then followed him in his car to the mansion. The place they finally arrived at was huge, there was no question of it being the mansion it had been claimed to be. It was tucked away in the middle of a really thick and deep forest, but that was probably a good thing considering the house consisted mainly of glass. Oddly the glass had strange latin phrases all over it, but who knew what the modern architectural style was these days, Diana had long ago accepted it was always going to be something bizarre. Kathy took her left hand and Bobby took her right as they all got out of the car, she squeezed their hands and exchanged smiles with the both of them, the look and Kathy's face was priceless, a smile took place that would be sure to make her father cry when he saw it, that smile right there was something he had been working towards for quite a while now and she knew it would please Arthur to finally see it. Bobby's mouth was opened as he gazed at the house,

"It's so futuroic..." he whispered, she shook her head smiling,

"No, honey, futuristic."

"I knew that."

"Suuuure you did Bobby." she replied winking, making the small boy giggle. He let go of her hand and went to retrieve his scooter, at the same time so did Kathy, to walk towards the house. Diana winced against the sudden gust of bitter wind, she covered her lip, nose and eyebrow piercings because it would sting like hell if she didn't, she was always trying to avoid that, to her cold wind on a piercing was worse than a paper cut. Everyone finally assembled around the front of the car and Ben Moss the lawyer was walking over to meet them, his eyes roaming over Diana's figure as they had done before, he studied her face and winked at her before smirking and addressing Arthur. She rolled her eyes, _pig_ , she commented to herself under her breath, but Kathy heard her, nodding beside her in agreement.

They walked slowly up to the house as a small group with Arthur at the front and Moss not far from him. A flash of orange caught Diana's eye somewhere to her left, she squinted in the darkness and made out a figure in orange examining the house through the glass, she frowned in concern and pointed it out to Arthur. Ben Moss made a beeline for the figure and cleared his throat, making the person turn around,

"Oh hey, about time someone showed up, this your place?" the guy asked, shining his flashlight directly in the lawyer's face,

"Mhm, who are you?" Ben questioned. sounded irritated, batting the torch away,

"I'm the power guy." he replied, motioning to his badge with the flashlight. Ben took hold of the badge and examined it, as the light shone on it Diana could read it said _Thomas Rainer, Surge Tracer Division_. The lawyer tried to take the badge off to examine it further but the power guy batted his hand away,

"Ayy, don't touch. Look you probably don't know this but your house is knocking out the power of the whole tri-quad area. I need to get inside and check the breakers."

"Could you come back tomorrow, is _that_ maybe a possibility?" the lawyer asked impatiently,

"Tomorrow? Let me see...." the power guy looked at his clipboard, "Oh, there's about 5,570 houses right now without power, my bosses kind of frown on that, so...." he shot back sassily, shining the light into Ben's face once again, making him close his eyes and look away,

"Right, well, that's not really our problem, is it?" "Look buddy, I've doin this job about three weeks, can't you give me a bit of a break here?" the lawyer opened his mouth to reply but was immediately interrupted by Arthur,

"Sure. No problem." he told the power guy, smiling. Thomas turned the flashlight to rest on Arthur's face but this time made sure it went no higher than the bridge of his nose so he wouldn't hurt his eyes,

" _Thank you_." Thomas replied, he directed it towards Arthur but shone the harsh light right in the lawyer's eyes, causing the usually debonair, suited man to stumble back, rubbing his eyes wildly, cursing under his breath. The power guy examined the group, his eyes not landing on Diana because she was just out of view for him, standing behind Kathy, "Mr....?"

"Kriticos, Arthur Kriticos." the name must have meant something to Thomas because his eyes widened slightly before going back to normal. Kathy maneuvered slowly over to the nearest bit of glass and started to press her nose to the glass, looking inside.

"This is quite a place you've got." Thomas remarked, motioning to the house, Arthur nodded in agreement and then Kathy joined in,

"Yeah. We're moving in." she said excitedly, smacking the lawyer on the shoulder and winking at Diana. The lawyer winced and looked highly irritated but said nothing,

"Well, one step at a time." Arthur replied. The power guy passed his torch over the group, he looked like he was counting how many of them there were. The torch beam passed over Diana's face but was quickly brought back, carefully not directed anywhere near her eyes. Thomas's lips parted as he took in her appearance, Diana stared right back at him, until his eyes made contact with hers and she looked away quickly,

"Hey..." Thomas greeted her, somewhat huskily. She smiled at him and he smiled back dreamily, his eyes never leaving her face, examining every aspect of her smile, the laughter lines, the two dimples that popped out on either side of her lips whenever she _did_ smile. Arthur caught his attention and Thomas reluctantly pulled his eyes away from Diana and walked up to where Arthur was standing at the front door.


	3. The House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I used to hunt ghosts with your Uncle Cyrus."  
> "Goats?"  
> "GHOSTS! Ghosts! Goddammit, listen to me!!"

Arthur produced the key from his pocket and started to try and figure out how to unlock the complicated looking contraption on the front door. Diana rolled her eyes and stepped forward to help, she felt Thomas's eyes on her as she simply slipped the key into the slot. The contraption accepted the key and turned, making a clicking sound, indicating that it was unlocked.

"Diana you broke it!" piped up Bobby who was standing next to her, she shook her head smilingly and Arthur told Bobby to give it a rest. Just then all the power in the house came on,

"Hello." said Arthur,

"Wow, you can see right _through_ it!" commented Bobby,

"Huh, what you guys couldn't afford any walls?" the power guy joked, stepping up to stand next to her, his bright blue eyes roaming over the glass,

"How weird." Bobby said with interest. Arthur put a hand on his son's shoulder,

"Guess Uncle Cyrus wasn't too keen on privacy..."

"I sure hope the bathroom's in the basement..." sang Kathy as she peered into the house. As soon as she'd said it the doors to the house slid open, Arthur patted her on the back with a smile and then stepped inside, followed closely by Kathy and Bobby, Thomas indicated politely that she should go first and she complied with a smile. Thomas had just come in behind her and the doors shut, in exact timing with the second set of doors that stood in front of them sliding open to reveal a small glass hallway. Thomas jumped back to try and stop the doors closing behind them but it was too late, he looked at the doors for a minute then shrugged in defeat and carried on with checking out the house. Everyone immediately went over to different exotic objects in the main hall and admired them,

"It's like a funhouse." whispered Bobby,

"It's Latin." remarked Arthur, his fingers tracing the strange script printed on the glass. Diana looked around her in wonder,

"Everything's so beautiful."

"What an incredible wealth of knowledge...." she heard Arthur say from the room parallel to the one she was currently in. Kathy yanked Diana away from everyone to talk privately,

"The power guy?? Seriously?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Diana I know you don't let my father pay you the full amount... No offence here but how would you be able to support each other with your wages?" Diana gave Kathy a look, that girl was very mature and responsible for her age,

"Kathy... I doubt anything's going to happen."

"Really? Well make sure if you don't want anything with him then tell him because I saw the way that goo-goo eyed moron was staring at you."

"Oh, stop it, c'mon let's get back to Bobby." Diana snapped, the younger girl was always so nosy and intrusive when it came to her love life, Kathy studied her irritated expression and then nodded, following Diana back to where Bobby stood in the middle of the room with his father. Arthur saw them approaching and smiled,

"Okay, now Diana could you stay with them here please while I go and talk to Mr. Moss?"

"Absolutely."

"Thanks a million. Now kids, stay here, I _mean_ it." Arthur thanked her then followed walked over to the lawyer. The two men were about to exit when Thomas ran in looking slightly flustered and spoke quickly to Ben,

"The sooner you show me where he hid the basement, the sooner I can get out of here." he rambled, looking about nervously and keeping a hand to his forehead. No-one had even noticed that Thomas had left, "I believe it's down the hall, it's two doors on the right." the lawyer replied charmingly, Thomas nodded, "Excuse me." he muttered, maneuvered around Ben then hurried off, "Arthur we've got some papers to sign, then I'd love to give you and your family a tour of the house." the lawyer said, turning his attention back to Arthur,

"Great, great. You guys _don't move from this spot,_ we'll be right back." he looked meaningfully at each of them and then turned to go.

Diana examined the room around her, her eyes travelling curiously over every artifact and the strange latin script printed on the glass. She held Bobby's right hand as he went along on his scooter beside her. They had slightly disobeyed Arthur's request and had gone on a small tour of the mansion, but they would be back before he returned and he wouldn't ever have to know. Kathy had disappeared to view some of the rooms to decide which would be hers. Diana frowned as a ringing sound started in her ear and a slight headache started to develop, "Aw, god...."

**DENNIS**

He followed the directions the lawyer had given him exactly.

"What the..." Dennis wondered to himself as he made his way cautiously down the stairs to the basement, which was exactly the same as the rest of the house except darker, and had a distinct sense of foreboding. Using his flashlight he started to examine the glass encased cubes either side of where he was walking. "Where'd you hide your money, old man?" he muttered to himself, frustrated. He practically jumped down the stairs to the basement because he was so desperate to collect his money so that he could escape the house and get away from the pain. A sharp pain hit him and a white flash filled his vision, he dropped his safety helmet and clipboard but managed to keep a hold of his flashlight, "Oh shit..... what the hell was that?!" he exclaimed, Dennis picked up his pace. He had to make sure that girl managed to get out aswell, hers was a face to remember, such a shame he couldn't have any kind of relationship with her, but then again it was a disappointment he had grown used to, it really was the story of his life. Something caught his attention and he walked over to it, inspecting the ceiling above, there were the odd inscriptions written up there aswell, "Oh no. Oh, Cyrus." he mumbled, as he carried on down the corridor. That's when the first image hit him, making him drop his flashlight and grab his head, it was only a flash but the image was imprinted in his brain, it was like a head and shoulders shot of a very pale woman, with dark wet hair and dark cloudy eyes. She looked like she would have been extremely beautiful in life but the cuts all over her disfigured that image slightly, making her look extremely haunting and also indicating the way she may have died. Dennis groaned in pain as another flash hit him with another image of a horrifying looking man with mottled and unhealthy pale skin, rotten yellow teeth and long messy hair. His head was in a cage which had been prised open at the front, and from what Dennis had seen he was also in what looked like a straight jacket. These faces were way to familiar for his liking, in fact he recognized both of them, he had to get out immediately. Dennis shook his head frantically trying to dislodge the images from his mind, his glasses flying off. He shouted out in pain and sank quickly to the floor, leaning against a glass wall, his head in his hands because the pain was so great. He grabbed his spectral viewers from his utility belt and put them on as he muttered something incoherent about Cyrus being a son of a bitch. He looked around him in horror as the cubes now had a ghost in each of them, eleven cubes with eleven ghosts, another flash and sharp pain hit him and he yelled, banging his head against the glass behind him. He rolled over and put his head against the cold glass floor with eyes shut tightly and forehead creased, he was starting to sweat. He sensed something behind him and slowly turned his head to look into the glass cube behind him, a ghost approached him, a young attractive looking man with one side of him mottled and raw, he held a baseball bat. That brought the total up to twelve ghosts. Dennis stared up at him in horror, the ghost reached the glass and with an angry yell, swung his baseball bat with amazing force at the glass separating him and Dennis, making Dennis jump back, scrambling to get to his feet. Dennis ran yelling down the corridor, bumping into the glass walls and coming face to face with ghosts as he passed. He picked up his pace until he had managed to escape the ordeal.

Dennis ran up the stairs and to the center of the first room in the mansion where he left the others but no-one was there, he hit the door frame in frustration and hurried off, cursing. Eventually he located Arthur and the obnoxious lawyer in the study, conferring about the paperwork for the house,

"Arthur? _Arthur?_ " he called, running into the study with his utility belt in his hand, "Arthur we gotta- Arthur, we have to talk."

"What _is_ the deal with the breakers?"

"There's nothing wrong with the breakers I'm not the power guy. My name is Dennis Rafkin."

"You're Dennis Rafkin?" the lawyer asked, sounding like he recognized the name,

"Who's Dennis Rafkin?" Arthur questioned the lawyer, confused,

"My office _warned_ me about this guy Arthur-" Dennis ran his hand through his hair in frustration and huffed, cutting Ben Moss off mid-sentence,

"I know this is gonna sound completely whacked, but just- just stay with me, okay? I used to hunt displaced spiritual energies with your uncle."

"I'm sorry?"

"Uhh, P.K. agents. Revenants. Uh, uh, uh - Like wraiths. Wraiths? Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"

"Uhh..." Arthur shook his head nervously,

"That's okay - that's okay. I'll do it the easy way. Ghosts. I used to hunt ghosts with your uncle Cyrus." there was a long pause before Arthur replied,

"Goats?"

"GHOSTS! _Ghosts!_ Goddammit, listen to me!!" Dennis slammed his fists on the table then placed his palms flat on the cool surface, looking down, he breathed to calm himself then looked back up at Arthur, "Ghosts, as in disgruntled spirits trapped on Earth. Ghosts, you know as in Halloween, _boo!_ As in Demi Moore and 'Unchained Melody' right? Ghosts."

"Ghosts, right. Okay, I get it, I'm scared." Arthur joked, rolling his eyes, earning a laugh from the lawyer behind him,

"Don't laugh at me. Don't laugh." Dennis said, his voice breaking and wobbling as that familiar feeling of humiliation and being mocked settled inside him, "Look, I'll explain everything as soon as you get you and _your children_ outside." there was an uncomfortable pause. The two men looked at each other and Arthur sighed, Dennis decided to carry on regardless, "Look Cyrus has containment cubes all over the basement, I don't know why they're here, I don't know why he brought them here and I am not sticking around to find out. So if I were you-"

"Well he _isn't_ you." interrupted the lawyer, "This guy has been harassing my office since your uncle died, okay? I see this all the time. Some rich guy passes away and then all the nuts come out! Next thing you know he'll be claiming Cyrus owed him some money."

"He _did_ owe me money. He owed me a _shitload_ of money!" Dennis shouted, his head starting to spin again, "I'm getting my ass outta the big glass house! Grab your _children_ , do the same!" he gave them both a look and started to turn away when another flash hit him and the image of the woman from earlier appeared again,

"Are you all right?" asked Arthur, he stopped short as Dennis slumped to the floor, screaming in pain. Arthur rushed to his aid and not realizing what he was doing, pressed his hand against Dennis's back as he tried to help;

"No-" Dennis tried to stop him but it was too late, pain hit him again and again as a lifetime of pain presented itself, images of fire and a burnt woman featured predominantly, "No, no, no." protested Dennis, then Arthur took his hands away and Dennis gasped in relief, drool spilling out of his mouth and on to the floor, Arthur went to place his hands once again on Dennis's back,

"We'll get you some help, okay?"

"Don't touch me." Dennis snapped quickly, making Arthur pull his hands back. Dennis sighed and slowly pulled himself together, getting to his feet, he rubbed his face with his hands and then looked at Arthur,

"Okay, how's your head?" asked Arthur,

"Not good." Dennis replied, keeping his hands to where it hurt the most. At that moment the glass doors around the house started to move, various ones opening and closing,

"It's time to move." commented Dennis as he pulled off the orange jumpsuit to reveal the casual suit he wore underneath,

"I'll take your word for it." answered Arthur,

"Kathy?" he asked nervously. He looked wildly around him at the changing doors then motioned for Dennis to follow him, "come on, this way." Dennis made sure to pick up his spectral viewers on the way out of the study. A door started to close in front of them, and through the glass they could see the kids and their nanny was gone, "Shit! What the hell? Kathy!" exclaimed Arthur, "Diana! Bobby!" he yelled as he ran off towards where he left them. He carried on yelling their names as he ran, "Bobby! Kathy? I don't believe it." he said with an angry gesture of his arms, motioning to the empty room around them,

"Believe what?" Dennis asked, following him as he strode quickly out the room,

"I told them not to leave this spot."

"They're kids, what did you expect?"

"Yeah, thank you _Dr. Phil_ , you check downstairs, I'll look up. Bobby! come on, it's time to go!" Arthur walked off, leaving Dennis to split up from him and check where he was asked to. Arthur was yelling pretty loud so somewhere else in the house Dennis could hear him, "Kathy? Where are you guys? Bobby!" he called. Dennis started to check around the downstairs area, calling the names of the kids but actually looking more for the nanny.

**DIANA**

The first flash of pain made her let go of Bobby's hand and caused her legs to go weak, the second flash took her to the ground, curling up in a ball, screaming in pain. Five flashes brought five images to her mind, images of ghosts, and from what Diana could tell, they were pretty damn close. Bobby was panicking and crying next to her, shaking her to try and get her to stop screaming. Running footsteps could be heard nearby, getting closer. Diana moaned in pain as a few more of the sharp pains hit her, the last one being the worst, making her scream again and Bobby cried out in a panic, she wanted to soothe him and help but she couldn't physically move due to the pain. Someone knelt down next to her and put their face close to the ground beside her, it was the power guy. He frowned in concern,

"Hey now, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked her in hushed tones, while Arthur calmed Bobby behind him, she looked over at them using only her eyes and then back to the power guy. He seemed to figure out that she wasn't in any sort of state to give a response, he bit his lip and stared concernedly at her face then turned his head back to Arthur,

"Arthur, can you carry her?"

"She's not heavy Dennis, you can do it." she frowned. Who was Dennis? Didn't this guy say his name was Thomas or something? He glanced down at her,

"Yeah... My name's Dennis Rafkin, it's uh, it's nice to meet you." when she didn't answer he sighed then turned back to Arthur, "I really need you to carry her, I still haven't recovered from earlier."

"Fine." Arthur came over and very gently scooped Diana up in his arms, "Right then, where's Kathy? Bobby, do you know?" Bobby nodded obediently, then started to walk off towards the rooms they had left Kathy in.


	4. Shit Starts To Go Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fun begins.

Only when they had all regrouped properly in the main room did they realize the lawyer was gone,

"Hey, where's the suit?" Dennis asked suddenly, he was sitting near where Diana had been laid down on the plush sofa. Arthur looked around him wildly,

"I-I'm not sure."

"God damn it Cyrus, you crazy son of a bitch what did you do?!" Dennis muttered to himself, studying the ceiling of the glass mansion. Diana slowly sat up and shook her head, blinking a bit, the pain had subsided and now all that was left was the dull after effects. Dennis sat up a bit and altered his position on the sofa so he was facing her, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle of prescription pills, "I don't know what happened to you but these will help."

"Uhh... What are they?"

"Moxaglocesorin, special make."

"I've heard of those."

"Really?"

"Yeah... not sure where but the name rings a bell." Dennis grinned, then looked thoughtful for a while before asking her a question,

"What happened back there?"

"Oh... well... don't worry, it's... complicated."

"Did you see something?"

"Excuse me?"

"Any... ghosts?"

"Y-yeah, how did you know? Wait, don't tell me... you're psychic?" she asked excitedly,

"Are you?"

"Born and raised" she replied, winking. Dennis shook his head smiling, then looked back at her with a strange look on his face. He frowned, bit his lip then looked extremely irritated about something, he rose from his seat on the sofa and went over to Arthur. She stared after him quizzically.

She was daydreaming, unconsciously staring at Dennis's back while lost in thought. Bobby suddenly spotted her awake on the sofa and struggled off of his sister's lap, accidentally bumping into Dennis as he ran towards Diana. She gasped under her breath as Dennis winced in pain, it was only a brush but a millisecond of contact was really all that was needed. He shivered then composed himself again, looking behind him and straight into her eyes, both of them immediately got locked in the gaze. Simultaneously their lips parted and Diana felt her heartbeat pick up slightly. The moment was quickly broken when Bobby jumped on her, making her lose the direct eye contact, they both looked away awkwardly. Dennis went to sit down in an armchair near the front door, he took out his bottle of pills and took a whole handful. Diana wasn't completely with it after taking the pills herself, so she hadn't noticed when Bobby disappeared again, the only reason she found out was because Arthur turned around to talk to his son and started to panic and shout at Diana when he saw she wasn't there. Dennis looked slowly over to where the commotion was and took in the expression on Diana's face before switching his gaze to Arthur, he sighed,

"For god's sake leave her alone, would you?"

"Excuse me, but she just lost my son!"

"No. _You_ just lost _your_ son and are in denial so you're blaming her for it."

"I pay her to watch him, and she can't even do that properly!"

"Have you ever had a seizure or a panic attack, Arthur? Can you even comprehend what it is like? It's amazing that she came to as soon as she did, she's very likely still not completely recovered so cut her some slack and back off." That final statement seemed to make Arthur come to his senses, his rough breathing slowed and he shook his head sadly, closing his eyes,

"You're right, I'm sorry, Diana."

"It's okay Arthur... I understand."

"Right, let's get all of you out to wait in the car while I find Bobby." he turned to the front door and saw it was completely sealed up, "Son of a bitch!" Arthur exclaimed, rushing over to it. Dennis simply rolled his eyes and watched them, his mood had changed so completely in comparison to earlier, Diana suspected his change in behaviour was due to the intake of the special pills. Arthur rushed over to a nearby desk and picked up the chair, "I cannot believe this. I'm gonna have to break it down. Alright, step away!" he swung the chair three times at the door before the chair broke,

"That's quite _dramatic,_ but you're wasting your time. It's all sealed up." Dennis commented moodily.

"What do you mean it's all sealed up?" Arthur panted, turning his attention to Dennis,

"What part of that code are you having trouble _cracking?_ The entire house is sealed up."

"Well there must be another way." commented Kathy, looking around her as if looking for it,

"I've looked." Dennis replied sassily, playing with his bottle of pills and staring at his shoes, Arthur glared at him,

"Well we'll look again, right after we find my son, now get up."

"That's alright, I'll wait right here."

"Listen... I don't know what the hell is going on here, and I really don't know who the hell you are but my son is missing. So until those questions are answered... I'm not letting you out of my sight. Now get up!"

"All right........ _Breathe._ " Dennis replied, a bit taken aback, then slowly rose to his feet, taking his time.

They made their way along what felt like endless corridors, Dennis hanging near the back. As they walked she studied the latin script closely, it seemed familiar to her but she just couldn't put her finger on exactly why,

"Bobby! Come on out pal!" Arthur called,

"Stop screwing around!" yelled Kathy,

"Hey, glass family Robinson, you're wasting your breath, this is ectobar glass. He won't hear you. See this is shatterproof and soundproof."

"So what are these?" asked Diana quietly, motioning to the latin script imprinted on the glass, Dennis made his way over to her, careful not to touch anyone, especially Arthur,

"That's a little harder to explain, uh, they're containment spells. See ghosts can't cross those."

"Ghosts?" Kathy asked sarcastically, raising her eyebrow,

"Yes, ghosts. See the supernatural realm has it's own set of laws, for ghosts it's spells. Either written or spoken ghosts have to obey whatever the spells say." Dennis replied as politely as he could. Kathy laughed at him,

"Freak." she hissed at Dennis and went to walk off but Diana caught her arm, as weak as she was right now, she still had to set Kathy straight,

"Don't be so sceptical and _rude._ " she told her, Kathy looked her straight in the face and sneered, shaking her head and shrugging Diana's hand off of her arm, barging deliberately past her, almost knocking her over. Dennis watched Kathy with a frown and an open mouth,

"That girl..." he said, shaking his head in disbelief, "You alright?" he asked Diana softly, she nodded,

"Yeah, you get used to Kathy and her mood swings after a bit. One moment she's the nicest, funniest, most considerate girls you could ever meet, the next she's a daughter of satan." He nodded thoughtfully after a moment, and then they carried on. Dennis started to try to inform the group of the danger,

"The entire basement is filled with ghosts."

"In this basement?" asked Arthur,

"Of course in _this_ basement. What is it with you people?! If it was next door, _I wouldn't give a shit!"_ he argued irritably,

"Whatever, Dennis."

"Well I can prove it." Dennis produced a futuristic looking pair of glasses, Kathy frowned,

"Hey, I gave a pair of those to Bobby!"

"They're spectral viewers; you can see the ghosts with these."

"I don't see any?" Arthur said like it was a question,

"Because they're locked _downstairs_." Arthur gave Dennis a look and then handed the glasses back, Dennis turned to Diana and offered her them, she took them and placed them on the bridge of her nose, the latin script now glowed and appeared all over the floor aswell,

"There's more of these spells on the floor."

"What? Let me see those." Dennis held his hand out for the glasses and she gave them to him, "Oh... hidden barrier spells, you _gotta be kidding_ me, why would he need more protection?" Dennis muttered, as he examined the latin script all over the floor, Arthur stopped calling for Bobby and came over to them,

"Enough. This is not helping, I want you to do me a favor and stop with all the haunted house nonsense, okay? At least until we find the kid and figure out a way out of here." Dennis nodded silently. Arthur breathed a sigh of relief and started to head down the stairs to the basement,

"Wait! no, no, no, no, no, no!" shouted Dennis, running to the front and banging his hand against the glass to stop Arthur from going down, "Wait, no! What are you doing? What did I just say, did I say there was a _petting zoo_ downstairs? _No!"_ Dennis rambled angrily, shaking his head in an exaggerated way as he said 'no', "There are ghosts downstairs Arthur!"

"Right, right, right, right. But you also said... that they're all locked up... right?" Arthur questioned, Dennis processed this for a second and then shook his head,

"No, no! No way-" he said, starting to walk off,

"Wait! wait, wait. Listen... I'll, uh, I'll make a deal with you. I'll pay you whatever Cyrus owed you, if you just.... help me find my son." he stared imploringly up at Dennis who stood at the top of the stairs while Arthur was halfway down. Dennis bit his lip then shook his head angrily, he huffed in disbelief,

"Unbelievable. Get out of my way." he said, putting his spectral viewers back on and pushing past Arthur down the stairs.


	5. The Impossible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Voila!  
> Character reveals, plot twists and story progression. Also some CONTACT. Hells to the yes.

Everyone stood in a group at the bottom of the stairs,

"Okay, we should split up." Arthur stated,

"Split up?! What? No!" Dennis shook his head in refusal,

"No, Dennis look. Just go forward for a bit and meet back here in five minutes."

"Go forward, come back in five minutes... okay." Dennis agreed. Arthur looked around the group,

"I'll go with Kathy, Diana you go with Dennis." Arthur said and then put his hand on Kathy's back, starting to guide her down the left corridor, Dennis glanced at her then started to walk off down the right corridor, she followed him silently. She looked around her as she walked, then froze, coming to a standstill. In front of her in a glass cube was a ghost, he was tall, muscular and had dark skin, huge and rusty looking old nails penetrated his skin all over his body. He was covered in chains and wire mesh, Diana stared up at him, she examined his face until his name came to her. One useful part of her power was an ability to mentally connect with a spirit and salvage information or even their entire backstory. George Markley, otherwise known as The Hammer. Diana noticed one of his hands had been replaced by a huge blacksmith's hammer and she guessed this was the exact and literal reasoning behind his namesake. If she didn't look away she knew his story would come to her but she was interested so her eyes stayed trained on him, then with a flash the entire story flooded into her mind. She closed her eyes and accepted the new information, it hurt but she ignored it, trying to understand. Diana gasped and her eyes flew open, The Hammer stood close to the glass still looking down at her curiously, she stared back at him with a new found sympathy. Dennis heard her gasp and twirled around, he was at her side in an instant and stared between her and The Hammer in confusion,

"H-How can you see him without the glasses?" he asked suspiciously,

"I've always been able to do it..." she replied almost inaudibly, her eyes never leaving the ghost in front of her. Dennis shook his head in disbelief, "

That's... unusual... _And_ it also means that you can't just be your everyday psychic... You're... You're a Deviant." Dennis said the word almost religiously, staring at her with something that could have easily been awe but could just as easily have been horror. She smiled slightly, glancing at him,

"That word is so rare to hear these days..."

"I can't believe you exist..." he breathed, his eyes wide as he watched her face,

"Well I do... and this guy seems to have some serious beef with you." she motioned towards The Hammer who had been staring at Dennis intensely and with a more than slightly intimidating frown on his face. Dennis turned his head slowly and jumped at the sight of the angry ghost, he immediately started to back up,

"Shit..." he cursed under his breath and kept backing up until he hit the wall, breathing heavily. Diana cocked her head as she looked between them, then tried to gather the information from The Hammer's past. Oh. So Dennis had been the one to help Cyrus imprison all of these ghosts. She pursed her lips and put a hand against the glass, feeding the ghost the message that she would be back for him later, he nodded slowly, almost innoticeably, and glared at Dennis again, his eyes trained on Dennis as he followed Diana down the corridor. Without a word spoken she had taken the lead, Dennis trailing behind her, she could feel his eyes locked on the back of her head when he wasn't examining the setting around them. After a bit of deadly silence Dennis spoke up, "So..." he began, waiting for her to answer him. When she didn't reply he sped up so that he was in front of her, he waved a hand in front of her face, "Hello... Diana?" her eyes never once touched on his face and he dropped the hand, simply walking backwards in front of her now, "You not talking to me?" he asked in confusion, she sighed,

"No, that's childish. I am just wondering to myself why on earth you let yourself be manipulated in such a way."

"Excuse me?"

"By Cyrus."

"What? Oh no, no, no. You're mistaken, see-"

"He was never your friend." She interrupted him, making him drop the hands he had been using to gesture randomly while he explained. He looked at her with a poker face for a minute, a slight crease in his brow, he bit his lip then turned around so he was walking forwards again. Diana thought about what she said, realising now that she had been too harsh, "Dennis..."

"Mmm."

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean it the way it sounded."

"It's the truth though isn't it...? He was never my friend."

"Honestly... yes. He was using you the whole time, but don't feel bad about it, you weren't the only one to be manipulated."

"Ah, but I was stupid enough to fall for it."

"Cyrus is an excellent actor, a man as driven as he is will do anything to get what he wants."

"How do you know so much about Cyrus?"

"I can feel him within the house... and I've gathered some information from what I saw of George Markley's past."

"So... you're pretty powerful, huh?"

"I'd say so." she laughed, the sound seemed to have caught him off guard because he glanced back at her with a smile,

"You've got a great laugh."

"Thanks." she smiled at the compliment and he watched her, taking in the image of her smile yet again. She moved closer behind him as she sensed something that may be more hostile somewhere nearby.

**DENNIS**

She scooted closer to him and when he looked back she was hiding behind him. He took on a more defensive stance as he walked, liking having the role of the protector,

"Oh shit." he groaned, noticing the sign of The Jackal imprinted on an open sliding glass door for one of the containment cubes. The Jackal was like the Charlie Manson of ghosts, and if The Jackal was out then screw the kid... They had to get out of that basement. Dennis was pacing, running his hands through his hair. He stopped, closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them, resuming a position leaning against one of the walls. Diana had her hand pressed against the inscription on the glass that was the sign of The Jackal, her eyes were closed and her soft lips slightly parted, her lip ring glinted in the dim lighting. She frowned and then winced, her eyes snapping open as she jumped back, quickly removing her hand from the glass. Dennis stepped forward to try and help but then remembered he couldn't make physical contact so he stopped before she'd even noticed he had moved. She clutched at her head in pain,

"Ahhh, no, no, no, no!" she shouted, her voice cracking slightly under the pain,

"What, what, what?!" Dennis questioned in a panic. He approached her slowly, standing as close to her as he dared,

"That shit is messed up! Oh god, we gotta get out of here!" she started to panic, looking around her wildly. Dennis frowned and followed her patiently as she started to hurry around the corridor, trying to navigate her way back to the stairs,

"Hang on just a second here, Diana... You were supposed to be the calm one!" Dennis half shouted at her as she sped up her pace, suddenly so eager to escape, she turned to him with tear filled eyes, her expression froze him in his place. He did not expect it to have such an effect on him,

"Dennis you don't understand. We've gotta find Kathy like now, _right now_."

"Kathy? Why?"

"Have you ever seen a glimpse into the near future?"

"Oh god, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying Kathy is in great danger and we need to get to her right now." she rushed her words, then spun on her heel and started to search more frantically. Dennis joined her, a panic quickly bubbling and rising in his chest.

**KATHY**

Her dad was famous for his panics, he always went over the top and imagined the situation to be a lot worse than it actually was. Right now was a prime example, Bobby had only run off and he had gone absolutely Shakespeare with the whole thing. What was worse was that he had actually allowed Diana to go off with the freak who had lied about being the power guy, and if they _weren't careful_ she might end up with him. Kathy may put up a tough exterior but on the inside she saw Diana as something in between a mother and a sister figure, so when she involved herself she was only trying to help, but always managed to get Diana mad at her. She thought back to what the weird not power guy had said about ghosts and tried to remember his name, she couldn't keep calling him freaky not power guy forever. Then it came to her, _Dennis Rafkin_. She smiled to herself, pleased with managing to remember his name. Arthur gasped, making her snap her head up. He made a sound like a wounded animal as he bent down to pick up Bobby's recording machine, it was left in the middle of the floor, looking like it had been dropped in a hurry. Her dad stared at it in his hands with wide eyes, she walked over to join him slowly, her eyes also fixed resolutely on the small box like device. They looked at each other then back at the machine, hesitantly Arthur pressed the play button and the unmistakable sound of Bobby's yell emanated loudly from the speaker. It filled the corridor and Arthur shut it off quickly, clutching the recorder to his chest, he had an absolutely horrified look on his face. Kathy's heart was in her stomach, the sound of her younger brother's yell echoed in her ears and she wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the guilt of an older sibling who wasn't there for their younger kin when they needed them the most. But how had he disappeared so randomly?

"Dad... maybe... Rafkin was right." her dad stopped in his tracks and swiveled to look at her,

"Kathy, _think_ about what you are saying." He hissed, then carried on walking, "There are no such things as ghosts." She ran a hand through her hair and her thoughts suddenly went back to what Dennis had said earlier about spectral viewers, quickly her hands went to her pocket and pulled out the glasses, looking at them hesitantly before placing them slowly on the bridge of her nose, adjusting them so they sat comfortably. She blinked and then suddenly she was faced with a nightmare. Half man, half animal, The Jackal turned slowly to face her, Kathy had no idea what or who it was, and didn't know the name of the thing in front of her was Ryan Kuhn, a.k.a The Jackal. All she knew was that it was snarling at her and then out of nowhere it pounced on her, shrieking. She screamed at the top of her lungs, something her father had taught her to do, she clenched her eyes tightly shut as multiple points of sharp pain hit her arms, the ghost above her still shrieked as it pushed her at an alarming rate across the glass floor to the wall. Kathy heard her dad scream her name but she couldn't catch her breath long enough to answer him between the screams. The nightmare had pushed her far enough that her head banged roughly against the wall and then she was being lifted off of her feet and held against the wall, it snarled up at her with lust in it's crazed eyes, there was a cage on it's head that had been prised open, it's teeth were disgusting and the creature had long but filthy black hair and now she took in it's entire appearance, she could see it was in a straight jacket... Just _great_. She figured whatever it was had to be male, from the looks of it. He held her with one clawed hand and then struck her round the face swiftly again and again, alternating hands and cutting deep into her skin with the long, sharp talons that must have once been finger nails. She screamed in agony as he then targeted her clothing, shredding her top in two strikes and then going for the bra. Somewhere in the background she heard a familiar female voice scream a name and the monster was suddenly distracted. Something grasped her ankle and started to tug on it desperately, it was enough to pull her out from the demon's grip, now she was somewhat away from the danger she could hear her father screaming her name, asking where it was because he couldn't see it. Kathy couldn't stop screaming and struggling to get free, the attacker caught her by the wrists and started to pull from his side to try and keep her. Her father must have felt the strong opposition because he pulled back fiercely, not going to give her up.

** DIANA **

They were having very little luck finding the other two because the basement was literally a maze of corridors, the only way to pinpoint where you were, was to keep track of the ghosts you passed. Diana and Dennis had just passed The Pilgrimess for the third time when a piercing scream filled the air, they looked at each other in panic and then sprinted towards the source of the noise. Diana turned the corner to see Kathy being lifted off of the ground by The Jackal, deep scars almost covered all visible skin of the young girl, the ghost was in the process of ripping Kathy's clothes off when Diana screamed his real name at him,

 _"Ryan Kuhn!"_  

That seemed to have caught him off guard because he turned his head slightly so that he could see her as well as possible considering the huge cage locked around his head. The distraction was enough as Arthur immediately leaped forward and grabbed Kathy by the ankle, pulling on her desperately to try and get his daughter away from the danger that was not visible to him. The Jackal was unfortunately not distracted enough to let her go that easily and caught her by both of her wrists, on reflex. Kathy started to panic and struggle, her hair had come out of its ponytail and was wild, adding to the effect of the situation. Diana gasped and went to spring towards the scene but something caught her mid flight, strong and surprisingly muscular arms wrapped securely around her waist and wrenched her back, she struggled about in the tight hold until she could see her captor. Dennis Rafkin stared back at her with pure surprise and something that resembled joy written all over his face,

"Dennis?!" He didn't answer and just kept his eyes locked on her face his, lips parted slightly and something that resembled the beginnings of a smile spread slowly across them, she rolled her eyes and started to pull desperately at his arms, trying to struggle out of his hold but he was having none of it. She huffed and blew her fringe away from her eyes, then looked at him reproachfully,

"Dennis Rafkin if you do not let me go right now, I _swear-_ "

"I can't believe it." He breathed, cutting her off with a huge smile forming on his face, her threats not seeming to worry him, "I can _touch_ you."

"What are you _talking_ about?" she questioned but trailed off as she followed his eyes, staring down at his arms that were wrapped firmly around her waist, "Oh... But... How is this possible?" She whispered in shock, her eyes wide. They both looked up and into each other's eyes at the same time, her breathing hitched in her throat and her heart picked up it's pace for the second time in what she was sure hadn't even been an hour. She could feel his heart thump faster against her own chest, and she hadn't noticed it but they were suddenly on the floor in an entangled heap. They had both zoned out slightly and were eventually pulled back into the chaos of reality by Arthur shouting at both of them to move, they both looked up and saw Arthur, accompanied by a strange woman Diana had never seen before, dragging Kathy along the floor by her ankles. Dennis helped her quickly to their feet and they instantly joined in the effort to save Kathy from The Jackal, Dennis frowned at the sight of the woman and a look of extreme rage and confusion came over his previously ecstatic face, he looked just like a man who'd finally found faith after many years without it, only to find a plague had struck his village. He couldn't physically help so he started to run along side them as best as he could, encouraging them and trying to distract The Jackal or throw him off. They picked up their pace, running backwards as they pulled Kathy down the winding corridors as fast as they as possible considering their situation, as The Jackal was gaining on them fast, as a ghost he had the upper hand. Kathy was screaming her head off while writhing and kicking, which did not help them, The Jackal was going to win at this rate,

"Kathy! You are _not_ helping!" Diana shouted in a panic, desperately hoping Kathy would be able to see the trouble she was causing them. Unfortunately Kathy was lost in her own world of pain, trauma and panic, she didn't seem to be able to process anything else. With an angry growl of frustration, Arthur picked up the pace and started to move faster while he pulled, Diana and the unknown woman imitated him and then as if a higher power was answering their prayers, The Jackal was cut off by a barrier of spells, a glass door slid across, cutting him off from them. They looked around them and saw it was secure for now, until the building started to move around again. Diana stood against the nearest wall and sighed in breathless relief, then slid down to the floor, bringing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. Dennis stood nearby, hands on his hips under his blazer, watching The Jackal as he started to scratch at the glass that separated them. Kathy and Arthur were curled up together in a corner far away from the ghost, Kathy was having a break down while her father held her, trying to calm her. The strange woman crouched relatively close to where they were, going through her bag.


	6. Kalina Oretzia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Too much contact but also not enough, introductions and insults and the disappearances of more people.

Diana was still focused on the new member of the party when Dennis's voice sounded somewhere beside her, an accusing and confused tone in his voice,

"What the hell are _you doing_ here?!" Diana whipped her head round to look at him and saw he was directing this outburst towards the unknown woman. This meant he knew her somehow so maybe she did have a purpose in being here,

"Looks to me like I'm saving your _ass,_ Dennis." She snarled back, it was apparent that they did not seem to get along very well. Diana felt Dennis's leg press lightly against her arm and she glanced to the side to see him standing very close next to her. She could understand what this must be like for him, not being able to come into contact with anyone all his life, and then out of nowhere here she was, someone that he could physically interact with. Of course he was going to be looking for any opportunity to touch her, so she let it be for now. Dennis's hand brushed against her shoulder as he started to gesture while he talked,

"I don't _care_ what part of me you think you saved, I want to know _what you're doing_ here."

"Well if you must know, I am here to set free all the lost souls you helped Cyrus to imprison."

"Oh, and what good do you think that is going to do the world, exactly?" Dennis demanded, Diana couldn't see his face from where she was but if she could have she would have bet it was angry. Kalina was about to reply when Arthur raised his voice,

"Okay lady, I want to know two things... _Who_ the hell are you, and _what_ the hell was _that?"_ , Kalina sighed and licked her lips before replying,

"My name is Kalina Oretzia, I'm in the spirit reclamation business."

"Which is?" Enquired Arthur, stroking his daughter's hair,

"We work to free trapped souls."

"So what business do you have here, and how did you get in?" He stood up, took his jacket off and wrapped it around Kathy and then turned to face Kalina,

"This very basement is Cyrus's collection of dead freaks, there are at least twelve trapped souls here and I aim to free _every single one_ of them." she said, her face lighting up with excitement as she spoke, her eyes looking around her as if she could physically see the possibilities of her venture. Dennis huffed and rolled his eyes, exchanging his weight from one leg to the other. Kalina snapped her head to him to give him a glare, Dennis did not react and seemed completely unfazed. Kalina shook her head and then walked over to Arthur to answer more of his questions, "Put these on, and then you will see what _that_ is." She handed him the spectral viewers and he slowly and very hesitantly placed them on his face. Arthur gasped in horror and then approached the glass, he examined the ghost in front of him with an open mouth and wide eyes. Then after a few moments of horrified staring, he went and sat down next to Kathy again with a dumbfounded expression, Kalina took out another pair of the viewers from her bag and put them on. Dennis slid down the wall to sit next to Diana, their arms and legs pressed firmly together, if he was any closer he would practically be in her lap. Everyone had been watching them and were all now looking intently at their proximity,

"Uh, Dennis... I thought you said nobody could touch you?" commented Arthur, Dennis looked down at where Arthur's gaze was directed and smiled lightly before replying, "Turns out Diana is the first to break that rule."

"Is that so?" Arthur replied sardonically,

"Yes, she is the only person I know of in this world that can physically touch me." Dennis replied seriously, Arthur looked at him questioningly and Dennis carried on with an explanation, "Now you believe me, I will tell you just what and who I am exactly. My name is Dennis Rafkin and _hello_ , I am a psychic. This means that I can sense and _feel_  when spirits or 'ghosts' are nearby, and that I cannot come into physical contact with any human being without having a lifetime full of shit flash in front of my eyes! So yes, before you say it, I am a freak, and no, I am not faking any of it." Dennis stated this all as if it were carefully rehearsed and repeated on a regular occasion. Arthur nodded slowly with his brow slightly furrowed, he licked his lips,

"So what makes Diana special?"

"Well, Arthur, in case you weren't aware, Diana is a Deviant. This means she is a higher level psychic, and she is very, very, very, _very,_ extremely rare. You should be sending a thank you prayer up to the heavens right now, folks, because we are so lucky to have her here today ladies and gentleman, her being here means we have an actual chance of getting the hell out of this basement." Dennis rattled off, finishing with a grin as he glanced at her, nudging her slightly with his arm. Everyone stared at her in awe, except for Kalina, she rummaged through her bag with a grim expression on her face, her lips pursed.

The sound of The Jackal's nails scratching against the glass was starting to give Diana a headache. With a frustrated sigh she got up and started to pace about, her nerves were frayed and she could feel Dennis's eyes on her once again. In her peripheral vision she saw him lick his lips and sit up slightly before speaking,

"We ought to make a move..." He suggested, his eyes staying fixed on Diana until he turned his head to look at Arthur. In return Arthur nodded, he turned to Kathy and immediately uttered a frustrated, close to tears kind of growl. Everyone snapped their heads up to look at him and saw what he was reacting to; _Kathy was gone_. Diana hung her head for a moment before doing her best to pull herself together and in the next instant, she was at Arthur's side, helping him to look around. Thanks to their transparent surroundings it soon became apparent that Kathy really was gone and Arthur let out a defeated sob as he covered his face with one hand. Diana looked at Arthur and then over at Dennis who was watching Arthur in bewildered despair, he noticed her looking at him and returned her gaze. Dennis held the gaze for a moment longer and then sighed, running a hand through his hair, he looked at the ceiling for a bit, there was a searching look in his eyes as if he could think up the answer, eventually he looked back down at Arthur and then walked over to stare at the older man evenly. Diana and Dennis looked at each other as if both asking the other what they should do, Diana bit her lip and then sighed lightly, "We carry on."

Dennis had been attending to Arthur but as soon as she spoke his head snapped up and he looked at her as if trying to be sure she'd actually said what she had _just_ said. Beside her Arthur stood up and relieved his hunched, defeated position, taking his face out of his hands and looking at her solemnly. Dennis shook his head slowly with a frown, "Diana... We only recently found a safe standing zone."

"Until the house moves again, Dennis." He frowned when she said this, taking it in,

"I suppose you have a point, but... where're we going?" Dennis questioned a little more reasonably. Kalina walked up to stand with Diana, her bag was slung over her shoulder like she was ready to go,

"I know." Dennis gave her a look that was anything but friendly and crossed his arms before replying,

"We are not following your freaky, green peace agenda, Kalina. We need to find the next place the house will be like this, closed off and secure."

"I can do better than that, Dennis. There's a room upstairs I believe is the library, it doesn't move and is completely safe." Dennis looked at her sharply and then his gaze turned to Diana, clearly about to protest.

"It's all we have," she interrupted him and Dennis studied her face for a second before he nodded, the picture of reluctance and returned to Kalina,

"Where are we going?" He seemed to have taken it upon himself to lead the group, Diana had to admit she was glad for it, the group definitely needed some leadership, and while Arthur couldn't offer it, she was glad Dennis had stepped up, she much preferred the thought of him in that role than Kalina. In response to Dennis's inquiry Kalina spoke no words and instead just tilted her head and looked upwards like Dennis had done before, the only difference was she wasn't searching, Kalina was looking very pointedly and meaningfully at the ceiling. Dennis caught on, "Oh. Shit."


	7. The Solid Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuff gets done.

Diana pulled Kalina to one side,

"Hey, uh, so I wanted to talk about... You used a flare of some sort earlier? To deal with the Jackal?"

"Oh, yes, that's called a spirit incense flare, it works to warn them off, gives them the impression that they're bound." Diana frowned at that, she had seen flares before, and the things that Kalina had in her satchel were just a load of normal flares, she was sure of it. But then again, it wouldn't make sense for Kalina to forfeit their only means of escaping the ghost. Diana hesitated slightly before replying,

"How many do you have left?" Kalina wrinkled her nose as if she was displeased with Diana's questioning,

"2 or 3. Depends on which spirits you want to attempt to use them against." 

"We'd only really need to use them as a distraction or momentary diversion, wouldn't we?"

"Sure, but they work better against spirits of less importance in terms of The Black Zodiac." Kalina stated this last part very casually, naturally, Diana was dumbfounded,

"The what?"

"The Black Zodiac... You haven't heard of it? Ever heard of Basileus's Machine, or, or... The  _Ocularus Infernum?"_ Kalina seemed to get more and more excited as she said this, her eyes even lit up and there was more life in her tone. Diana narrowed her eyes slightly, surely, Kalina wasn't involved in some sort of cult? Satan worship? Diana didn't give Kalina a verbal reply and so went for a shake of the head, which prompted Kalina to rush over to her bag, rummage through it, and retrieve a heavily bound book, covered in latin writing - much like the script that covered the glass walls all around them. Diana spotted Dennis watching with interest near where Arthur was standing, his eyes were trained on the book Kalina had just presented from nowhere, he appeared to be nervous. Dennis seemed to realise she was watching him, he slowly shifted his eyes upwards to meet her own directly, she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was she saw within the depths of his eyes at that moment, but it was foreboding, and resembled something mixed with fear and an instinctual dislike of whatever was in  _that book_. Diana couldn't help but agree with him, anything called 'The Black Zodiac' or 'The Ocularus Infernum' was never bound to result in anything good. 

"In the 15th century, there was a philosopher named Basileus, he actually created the blueprints for the very machine that we are standing in right now." Kalina had opened the book and started to flip through the pages, occasionally showing a series of disturbing drawings to Diana, who in turn, just managed to nod, and occasionally exchange a look with Dennis, who had come over to listen, as well as stand as close as possible to Diana.  "This book is The Arcanum - it holds the blueprints which Basileus had drawn whilst under demonic possession. Now, in order for the machine to work, there is a certain criteria of spirits to be offered up. This is The Black Zodiac." Kalina had become fully immersed in telling the story, Diana simply stared at the book in horror. Demonic possesion? Machine? The Black Zodiac? This was all too much, her head was starting to throb with that telltale ache; there were too many spirits around, there was too much going on. She needed to sit down. Dennis noticed her sudden distress and cleared his throat towards Kalina, who faltered and looked up from the book, and realising Diana's state, promptly closed it. "That's enough for now, I suppose."

"Yeah," Dennis agreed, "I'm gonna get her to sit down over there, you do whatever it was you were doing before-"

"I will, thank you." Kalina bit back, interrupting him, Dennis rolled his eyes as a response and began to guide Diana by the elbow, as an afterthought he turned back to Kalina,  "Oh, and do us a favour, try not to freak Arthur out." When she gave him a fake smile, he simply winked and returned his attention to Diana.

"Dennis" she whispered to his neck, they were huddled together against the wall, although he was mainly holding her up;her head resting on his shoulder and his arm around her shoulder, with her arm resting on his raised knee for support. He heard her and leaned down, blinking at her,

"Can I help you?" He asked jokingly,

"There's too much going on."

"I agree with you wholeheartedly on that one, Di. Need to take some Moxaglocesorin? I've got a few left..." He trailed off, popping open the pills and shaking them around, counting them. She shook her head,

"No... No. You need those."

"Come on, Diana, don't be a saint, I can always get more; and look at you, you're pale as hell. Take care of yourself, have some, just to take the edge off." He paused to assess her reaction, seeing she was still hesitant he carried on, "And, I mean, what good are you going to be to Bobby and Kathy in this state? Huh? Do yourself and them a favour and take the damn pills."

"Alright, as long as you can get yourself some more. S'long as they're not irreplaceable."  Dennis had been right, they took the edge off almost exactly seven minutes later. Dennis helped her to her feet and she made her way over to the others, she was sick of being stuck in that box. They had to get the kids. "Alright, listen up." Diana did a light clap with her hands, and kept her voice steady but confident. Dennis placed a hand on her lower back and assumed a casual stance next to her. Kalina and Arthur both turned to face her, everyone's eyes on her, "When he was alive, Ryan Kuhn had a paralysing fear of fire, he couldn't stand it and would either freeze up or go into a panic attack. I reckon, that, considering he is a high priority ghost-" Kalina smiled, Diana had been listening, "Kalina's special flares wouldn't have affected him, and that it was, in fact, the element of the fire, and not the spirit thingies themselves, that repelled him." Everyone nodded slowly, in agreement, "So, I propose that we use that to our advantage. Now, we have a few options here, we can use one or two of the remaining flares to get rid of him, meaning we won't have them when it comes to other ghosts, or, we could find something else to set fire to." She looked at each of them in turn, and they all looked at each other. It was time to plan. Kalina waited for The Jackal to be distracted by Dennis and Arthur's presence over at the other end of the hallway, and started to slide the glass door open, Diana holding the materials necessary for the execution of their plan beside her. It all happened rather fast after that, everything really starting to kick off when Dennis shouted,

"Go, go, go, go! He's coming!" And started to motioned at them wildly, as The Jackal turned on his heel and sprinted full speed towards them. Diana gritted her teeth and struck a match, she held the open flame to material they had ripped from Dennis's suit jacket and it caught fire quickly. The timing of the whole thing couldn't have been more perfect if she'd wished for it. The flaming material was flung at the angry spirit, the very moment he came into the line of sight, the trajectory going straight for his face. Realising what was happening, The Jackal shrieked, and was gone. The hallway was weirdly silent after that, and as they knew were they were headed they all set out at once. There was only one place in the whole basement that would be secure, and that was the library. The journey would take them through most of the corridors on the lower section of the basement, and through a substantial amount of the upper half too, which would give them great opportunity to search for the kids. They had a solid plan, and it felt good.


End file.
